Forest Empire
The Forest Empire (Farwestern: Sanulkiolk, "Forestland") is one of the four empires of the Far West, ruled by the Great Emperor of the Forest from Thousandtrees, who also controls the neighboring Stone Empire. Historically, the Forest Empire has been the most powerful of its peers. Its southern portions are amongst the most fertile regions on this Earth, with perhaps 10,000 farming settlements existing within the territory. The Volkan Hills are a nearly endless supply of gold, jade, silver, tin, and iron. The Forest Empire controls the majority of the River Roots, often considered the defining geographic feature of the whole of the Far West. It controls part of the Great Bridge of the Far West, as well as Galmalk's Crown in the Dragoneye Sea, and the Ruddy Isles (with effective control over Bride's Isle). The Great Bridge allows it easy access to the most lucrative markets and bazaars in the whole country, and the nearby waters around Galmalk's Crown are some of the most excellent fishing waters on the whole planet. Bride's Isle is the Forest Empire's launching point for maritime trade with foreign countries, though it does have to contend with a sizable amount of Sarplander and Irelenner piracy. The Forest Empire has maintained effective control over these locations with its enormous military, which if funds with heavy taxes. Its three largest military orders are the Four Garrisons at the Pincer Pass, Cronenn's Crop, the Viper Valley, and in the Warriors' Mountains. History: Kalbalkosh Laochalk: The first Great Emperor of the Forest was Kalbal, son to a whore. Kalbal had a likely half-brother, Hololk, who was the son of a painted goodlord and an unknown woman. Together they learned how to ride horses, string bows, sharpen swords, build fires, pitch tents, skin common animals, and most of all, about the total, unending brutality of life. They grew up in an endlessly difficult time, during the tail end of the decline and subsequent fall of the Southern Empire due to the environmental effects of the eruption of Mount Scorpion. Kalbal was a man possessed, however, as he had a strong belief in the supernatural. Hololk's father was most-likely also his father, and so Kalbal took to believing very strongly in the occult as a coping mechanism. This is what led to him kidnapping the Four Alchemists, four "alchemists" who had many prophetic visions, and believed that they were destined to build an empire around four castles, which were to be successors to four other castles they saw destroyed in their vision of the eruption. His people were raiders, and profited greatly from the chaos following the eruption. Rather than squandering that wealth on whores or alcohol, Kalbal, who was not even a particularly skilled raider, invested in weapons and armor for his men, while they wasted their money. Soon they became the wealthiests raiders in the land, and Kalbal attracted an army of men for himself, whom he was soon able to pay. He kidnapped the Four Alchemists, and had Hololk torture them until they fervently believed that Kalbal was the prophesized "Castlemaker." Kalbal rallied the people against a common enemy, dragons, whom he derided as the cause of the eruption which caused the chaos. Kalbal did believe this to be the case, but did not personally so much care, as he had profited from the chaos. In reality, he had merely learned from the alchemists that the World Tree Laochalk was key to the prophecy coming true. The Battle for the World Tree took years to organize, but ended in a decisive victory for Kalbal, who changed his name to Kalbalkosh Laochalk, taking on Laochalk as a house name. Great Emperor Kalbalkosh rose from nothing, paving his way with blood, and naming it the Redroad. He, in his own words was the man responsible for "ridding this Earth of the scourge brought about by dragons, who ruined all the world with their foul fire in the south," referring to the eruption. He built the redstone wall which would come to be known as Jaumai's Wall, and created the Water Clans of Yul, Fal, Ofola, Haluk, and Kosholk by forcing his sons on the daughters of local chieftains. Category:States Category:Locations Category:History Category:Four Empires